A Refreshing Mountain Retreat with Breathtaking View.
Sheipa Leisure Farm perched at the top of 1,923 meters offers a panoramic view of the surrounding Sheipa Mountains of Sheipa National Park in the Guanwu National Forest Recreation Area. The main building and the accommodation are built to blend into the surrounding environment giving you an easy access to enjoy the natural sceneries and fresh air. Continue reading “Sheila Leisure Farm, Taiwan”
Is a small small world
Macro photography is a genre of photography that you’ll either love it or will give up totally after your initial try. This is photography that requires a huge dose of patience and probably a strong pair of legs. I remember I was really amazed with photos of insect with extreme close-up revealing details that I’ve never seen before and wonder how it’s possible to capture those minute details and colours that’s not visible to our naked eyes. Off course shooting extreme close-up of insect is not everyone cup of tea but there are more to this as I have friends who have shot beautiful macro shots that defies your imaginations.
Cross Border Photo Adventure to Terengganu, Malaysia .
The first of a series of Photo Adventure for Nikon Club Malaysia/Singapore. This trip is to the coastal state of Terengganu on the East Coast of Malaysia. This stretch along the coastal line are dotted with many small fishing villages with rich heritage background and a traditional way of lifes. With this as the background we spent 4-day/3-night, documenting a varieties of heritage skills that were passed down from one generation to another.
A cold and wet January day
It was one of the coldest days i’ve experienced in Sukhothai. As it was raining for the last 2 days and with the cold northern wind blowing down south, the Northern part of Thailand down to Bangkok was suddenly under a cold spell. While The Northern part has always been cooler during January, it was exceptionally colder this year. And to make thing worst it also rain, making it inconvenient to walk in the historical parks. The sky was grey and flat without any shade of colours. Continue reading “Sukhothai & Si Satchanalai”
The Chinese Lunar Year starts on the 8 of Feb for 2016. The beginning of the Fire Monkey year.
On the eve of the Chinese New Year after their reunion dinner with family members, many Chinese will go to the temple to give thanks and pray for a better year. Continue reading “The Year of the Fire Monkey”
At the signal from the announce to let go the Khom Loi (floating sky lantern), we were just mesmerised by the amazing sights of the sky filled with thousands of sky lanterns floating almost in a similar pattern rushing toward the full moon. For us, the first timers attending this event was an overwhelming experience but it was soon over as the thousand of lanterns disappeared in the night sky. Yee Peng, the Northern Thai Lanna Festival is held at the same time during the Loi Krathong 25 November 2015. Continue reading “Fly me to the moon”
At the heart of Kuala Lumpur
Bukit Bintang is the main shopping and Hotels area including the nearby Jalan Sultan Ismail, Jalan Raja Chulan, and the older residential part of Jalan Imbi. In Jalan Imbi you can probably find some really nice and cheap local food with it’s many shophouses and kopitiam (local cafe) and a wet market too.
With the ongoing construction of MRT right in the middle of Jalan Bukit Bintang, this area is even more congested during peak hours. Its best to take the monorail or walk if you want to explore the few roads around this area. When you have enough of walking to the heat, just pop into the many malls around here for a late and cool air-con.
In the daytime this area is pretty safe to walk about but try to avoid the dark lanes behind shophouses at night.
Embrace the rainforest at your doorsteps
You’ll be surprised how close the rainforest is from Kuala Lumpur. Just 45 mins drive and you’ll be at the doorsteps of Malaysia’s oldest rainforest. Forget about your alarm clock, here you’ll be waking up to calls of the many varieties of birds and monkeys. Occasional you’ll even hear the calls of the endangered species of hornbill. In the early morning just as the sun rises you can see monkeys out looking for food along the road, at the surrounding compounds of the houses, which are well spaced out to give you all the peace, tranquility and privacy you wanted. Continue reading “Rest.Pause.Rainforest Retreat”
九皇爺 or Kow Wong Yeh (in cantonese)
The Nine Emperor God festival is a nine-day Taoist celebration starting from the 1st day of the 9th lunar month. At the Nine Emperor God temple in Ampang, Selangor it is always a huge celebration where thousands of devotees goes to pray for blessings and to give thanks giving. Devotees observe a vegetarian meals even before the start of the festival. Devotees will be dressed in white will be at the temple, praying, lighting up huge incense and candles. Throughout the nine-day festival the temple ground will take on a carnival-light atmosphere. Many people will go to pray and seek divine guidance. Traders cash in to the occasion setting up stall selling anything from vegetarian food and drinks and toys. (more…)
Street Photography
Toothache; Chinatown, Kuala Lumpur.
To the lesser mortals Street photography can be a daunting experience; shooting stranger (with a camera) right in their face is not an easy thing to do. At least I find it a challenge and in some places you’ll mostly likely get a verbal tirade or worst in hostile situation. Continue reading “Go out and shoot some photos”
Mid night hike to Ijen
blue fire at Ijen
Our next stop at Kawah Ijen is a very different volcano with the special attraction of blue fire that’s only visible in the darkness of the night. We stayed in Banyuwangi at the Ketapang Indah Hotel, which is a beach front hotel and probably one of the better hotel in this area with it’s huge well kept garden making it a good place to rest after your mid-night hike to Ijen. It took us about an hour to reach the Ijen Park where we meet up with our guides and porters before we start the 2-hour hike to reach the rim of the crater. As some parts of the 3 km hike is very steep at about 45 degrees it is better to come with a good pair of hiking shoes.
Mount Bromo
It was late at night by the time the van dropped us at our hotel in the mountain village of Cemoro Lawang at the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. After checking in we arrange for 2 jeeps to pick us up at 4am for the trip to Mount Penanjakan (2,770 m) to catch the sunrise. I was barely asleep when my alarm woke me up for the 1-hour journey to Mount Penanjakan viewpoint. From the airport to Cemoro Lawang and then to Penanjakan we travel mostly in darkness so I have no idea how the surrounding area looks like. Walking up a short distant to the viewpoint we could see in the distant sky streaks of orange and purple hues started to appear over the horizon. There were already a few people waiting for sunrise at the viewpoint. Below us thick clouds float over the huge caldera enveloping the entire valley of Cemoro Lawang. It was an amazing sight. That year was May 2005.
Kelvin Chan 